what would be the best plane to learn solo with?

[PIlot Error 2]

Hi Craigyboy,li had the same experience as you learning to fly.

i decided to go it alone and teach myself on something very similar to the Multiplex Easy Star. After finding myself a quiet patch away from everyone I managed to get the hang of it (after much sticky tape and glue).

I decided to get a follow on plane and got the Hanger 9 Alpha 40 but that still needed some help from some experienced pilots.

im still learning but solo now and my advice as a fellow beginner is to take it slow and take as much advice from the more experienced flyers as you possibly can. I'm sure if you went back to a club with more flying experience you will get a different reception.

[crispin church]

what ever you get make it it high wing but not a cub

big as you can like 4 to 5 foot wing span

and get a flight sim for computer that you can use your tx

[Simon Chaddock]

craigyboy

From what you have posted I am not sure the problem you have 'learning to fly' lies with your plane.

People talk about finding it difficult to land but in reality its all about getting the 'approach' right but learnig by yourself means you have no one to advise you on what is good or bad.

Once you have a plane setted on the correct 'glide path' (although you may not be actually be gliding!) the landing almost takes care of itself.

I would suggest you keep going with what you have and when you can land without damage more or less where you want every time you will have cracked it - but only for that plane!

[Ponty Bri]

I would recommend a flight simulator for the first adventures. They are very realistic and will teach you orientation, and landing techniques Crashing is also free.. For the real thing a decent sized high wing model flown at first in calm conditions. Good luck and don't despair it's very satisfying when you get to grips with it all.

Brian

[David Davis]

I learned to fly on a Junior 60. I agree that they have a very short nose and you may have to add lead to the nose to get the balance point correct, but I don't recall it being unstable in any way. Having said that I built a Super 60 for last years' Greenacres and that's a better flier.

[DH Flyer]

If you have a Tomboy plan, why don't you go for that. My first rc model was a Tomboy with rudder and elevator and an electric motor.

The great thing about it is it is so stable (massive dihedral) so it entirely flies itself.

Last week I lost radio signal at the top of the loop, and Tomboy completed the loop, levelled off, and pulled off a better landing than I could do if I was in control!

It is pretty straight-forward to build too, although if you are going electric you may have to lengthen the nose and add some lead to bring the c of g into the correct position.

Good Luck!

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Josip Vrandecic -Mes]

Hi Craigyboy,my recommendation is Multiplex Easy Star...

Edited By Josip Vrandecic -Mes on 28/05/2013 19:36:02

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[craigyboy]

thanks guys for your sugestions, crispin why not a cub?? i do have a e-flite cub 25e but wouldnt dare to fly it at this moment in time as it cos me alot of money lol. i do have a flight simulator that i used for quite a few hours before atempting to fly my foamie, it really is just the landings im struggling with. i hand launch it by myself and fly it fine, just can never land where i want it. ive damaged it a few times on landing thank god for hot glue guns i just wondered if there maybe a plane more suitable for me, i have loads of planes as i buy sell and deal them. to name a few would be the e-flight 25e cub 62 inch wingspan 4 channel brushless, i have a 2 meter brushless glider built from a plan 3 channel, a mick reeves hawk 52 inch span 3 channel 25 ic, a keil craft mascot 4 channel with a 40 ic engine, a presedent flyboy 48 span 3 channel 15 ic, i have never tried flying any of these for obvious reasons. as for the easy star i had 1 and sold it on for some stupid reason thinking i needed a 4 channel? helppppppppp meeeeeeeee ha ha

[craigyboy]

hi d hingston

could you tell me a bit more about your tomboy please ie bushed 400? brushless? batterys esc ect. love the vintage planes and have quite a few vic smeed and ben buckle plans

[John Olsen 1]

The facetious answer to the original question would be "one you don't want anymore", but , more seriously, the Bixler and similar would probably be the best. My son bought a Hawksky, a similar sort of thing, eg powered glider with four channel control, and mostly taught himself to fly on that. I also did quite a lot of learning on it. They do have the typical glider problem that if you just clear the hedge at one end of the paddock, you will run into the hedge on the other end. Well, not quite, but theydo tend to want to float on and on, which does make it hard for the learner to place them on the desired spot. Provided it is one of the ones with ailerons, you can get a better rate of descent by sideslipping, eg opposing rudder and aileron, but I only ever tried that with a bit of height, it's a bit much for a learner to be worrying about on approach. But we had plenty of space, so making long low approaches was not a problem.

The only other real difficulty I had was due to no realising that they don't always like too much power. I got into a fairly tight turn, couldn't get her out, and ended in a tree. Of course once I thought about it, I realised that had I throttled back and centred everything, she would have sorted it all out for herself.

However, having learned initially on one of these...I found it quite a jump to flying a real power plane. You don't get the flat approach problem, but everything happens pretty quick. You are no longer just guiding something that could fly itself quite well. I think someone above suggested largish models...these have advantages, since they tend to be not so twitchy, and stay in sight better.

I had the advantage of having buddy box training on the later models, but all of the flying that my son and I did on the Hawksky was without any buddy box, since it came with its own TX.

The new "SAFE" system from Hangar 9 sounds quite promising for people without access to instructors. There is a thread on it somewhere here.

John

[Allan Bowker]

John recommended what I was going to suggest you also consider along with the Bixler.

The new E-Flite Apprentice 15s with SAFE (from Horizon Hobby) has a on board computer that acts as a three level training aid. Check out the many videos on YouTube that Hoizon have uploaded for a product demonstration.

I've not seen this system in the flesh yet but does look like a good option for those going it alone.

[DH Flyer]

Hi Craigyboy,

The components I used in my Tomboy are a GWS 2205/15t outrunner motor with a 25A esc (bit of an overkill). It flies with an 800mah 7.4v lipo, giving about 8-10 mins on one charge. The motor swings a 7*6 prop and this gives roughly 60W power. This is adequate.

I ended up with an all up weight of 14.5oz. This is a bit on the heavy side, and if I built another I could definately shave a couple of ounces off that. This weight includes 2 ounces of lead in the nose, as I didn't appreciate the idea of c of g initially! I use a Planet tx and rx and these are only rated for short distances, but it is reliable and cheap. Two 6 gram servos control rudder and elavator. Don't reduce the dihedral!!! This saved me so many times!

Tomboy can be built as either a 36 or 42" wingspan. Definately go for the 36", as otherwise it will be affected by the wind tooo much. As I said, flies beautifully, but a calm day is needed (or evening). Can take off from grass but I tend to hand launch. WIll do loops too!

For me a lot of the pleasure came from building the model, so if that is what you want it is ideal. Mine survived a biggish crash and having built it I could repair and strengthen it no problem.

Still going strong 2 years later!

[DH Flyer]

Is that a Tomboy I see on your profile pic?

[craigyboy]

it is daniel yes, thanks for the info. its a fine looking plane you have foamies and such rally dont interest me but maybe do the job fine. but im the kind of person that likes my planes to look like planes lol

[craigyboy]

i did have the dynam hawksky which lasted me a few months until i killed it beond repair, and as ive said earlier i now have a j power sky surfer which is very much the same

[DH Flyer]

Thanks craigyboy

ARTF s are ideal for many people but if you think the building process is enjoyable too, then you might as well! If you do decide to go the Tomboy route I can help you with sme more details (if you need it).

[craigyboy]

i am going to build a tomboy daniel so any extra info would be a great help please many thanks

[DH Flyer]

I have some pics and drawings that may help you. I'm a bit busy today but i'll put them up here over the weekend.

[craigyboy]

cheers daniel

[DH Flyer]

Okay, I'm not sure if you have built anything before, so please don't feel offended if some of this stuff seems obvious to you . . .

Probably build the model in this order:

-Make fuselgae sides over plan (pin the wood directly over the plan to glue. aliphatic glue seems to be the strongest glue for balsa, but it is slow drying, so leave every stage 12 hours.)

-Cut out fuselage formers (ignore everything in front of F1 at this moment). Glue formers between sides and simultaneously bring sides together at tail, and clamp to dry.

-Add the spacers between the sides of the fuselage.

-Okay, the wings! Make an accurate wing rib template from thin plywood. Use this to cut out the necessary number of ribs.

-Build each wing in one session, gluing ribs, leading edge, spars and trailing edge at the same time.

-Construct centre section of wings.

-Now glue the three wing sections together.

-Sort out the fit of all electrical components now, before the model is covered. Construct nose to fit motor and battery.

-Cover the model, solarfilm is probably most straightforward.

[DH Flyer]

I took 6 months to build my Tomboy (it was also my 1st model) ! ! ! So don't worry if it takes a while!

I found a copy of a book on rc planes by David Boddington in my local library which was pretty helpful. Have a look at the build blogs on this forum for detail on how to assemble. It doesn't matter if the model isn't a Tomboy, as most balsa built-up models are constructed fairly similarly.

WHen I was finished, I was all for rushing out on my own to try flying it, but I was sensbly persuaded that I wouldn't be able to and so I went along to my local model club. They were very helpful and finished setting it up for me, and checking my construction. Even so, it still had a minor crash on its first flight with a really experienced flier in control, as I had set up the rudder control wrongly. They did the maiden flight and then showed me the techniques. That was really necessary!

[DH Flyer]

Alright, sorry for the essay, here are some pics

[DH Flyer]

Rough sketch of redesign of nose: All structure is as per plan, except the balsa side cheecks of the nsoe are extended and an extra former is put in to mount the motor on. To make that former, laminate a sheet of medieum 1/8" balsa between two sheets of 1/32" ply. This is very strong for the motor bolts.

 

Edited By Daniel Hingston on 02/06/2013 11:39:10